Contemporary debates on tourism in the Antarctic

• Main Author: O’Brien, Gregory
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: University of Canterbury 2009
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Ushuaia; Draper; Gunn; Stonehouse; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/13929

Few human activities in the Antarctic have been as consistently controversial as the question of tourism. Conservationists that see the increasing tourist numbers released each season by the International Association of Antarctic Tourist Operators (IAATO) become increasingly concerned about the impact of the industry on the Antarctic environment. Governments are concerned about the potential interference tourism could pose for their scientific programmes, or are eager to develop the economic benefits that tourism represents for their ports. Recent events have ensured that Antarctic tourism stays on the top of the agenda for the Antarctic community: the first voyage of the 4,1601 capacity MS Golden Princess into Antarctic waters (Bertram, Gunn and Stonehouse, 2007), the largest tourist vessel to date, the sinking of the emblematic M/V Explorer in 2007 (Austen, 2007) and the grounding of the M/V Ushuaia in 2008 (Revkin and Robbins, 2008). Previous reviews of the literature on Antarctic tourism have found that the majority of research falls into three broad themes: tourism patterns; tourism impacts; and tourism policy and management2 (Stewart, Draper and Johnston 2005). Stewart, Draper and Johnston suggest two further research clusters which require development to further our understanding of Antarctic tourism: Tourist experience; and Global changes and Large‐scale influences, with the former starting to receive attention (Powell, Kellert and Ham, 2008). This review will not attempt to replicate the existing reviews of Antarctic tourism. Instead it will try and supplement existing reviews by looking at the most recent debates that have developed in the last few years. These debates include: ongoing discussion by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties (ATCPs) at their annual Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM), the latest being ATCM XXXI held in Kyiv, Ukraine, on ways to improve regulation of Antarctic tourism; debates around monitoring the impact of tourism, including the efficacy of the existing ...